She Belongs To The Devil

"Er… Theodore?" Adeline\'s brows furrowed together with confusion. She looked to her sides but there was no sign of him. And she mumbled to herself in disappointment, "I thought this ring would bring you to me. But it did the opposite."

And right then she felt a poke in her back. She turned around to see Theodore lying down behind her and let out a sigh of relief. "I thought I made you go away."

"Were you just testing me, my woman?" Theodore was giving a smoldering look to Adeline.

Others would have been intimidated by the way he was staring but Adeline smiled at him, showing off her dimples. "I was not testing you, I was testing the ring. I wanted to see how it works." She replied while still grinning.

Theodore wanted to be angry at her for not trusting him but how could he be angry when she was smiling so cutely.

"Well in that case, you got your little demonstration then. I will teleport to your side almost in an instance after you kiss your ring, no matter where I am or what I am doing." Theodore explained further to her but then narrowed his eyes as if he came to realize something.

And after a short pause, he added again, "I just hope that you won\'t call me when I am in the middle of odd jobs… like when I am using a bathroom."

Adeline almost choked on her saliva as she had pinched her nose to restrain from laughing. When Theodore mentioned him doing \'odd jobs\' the visual automatically played out in her mind making it hard for her to control her laughter. And after a little coughing fit, she finally managed to speak a few words, "I will try not to do that."

Adeline\'s cheeks had turned red and her eyes were watery from laughing. Theodore\'s golden eyes were focused on her rosy cheeks.

He lifted his hand to caress her cheeks and his deep voice echoed throughout the room, "You should laugh more Adeline. Your cheeks look very lively, like ripe apples, when you laugh." He softly pinched her blushed cheek and whispered, "I am almost tempted to take a bite of your red cheeks."

Adeline started to blush even harder because Theodore was giving off this enticing aura. She did not know if it was him trying to seduce her or if it was her who was being pulled towards him. But either way, her body was heating up.

She fanned her face with her palms and said, "It\'s getting hot in here, isn\'t it?" Then she tried to steer the conversation in another direction so that she would not feel so nervous. "By the way, where did you get Rion from?"

Theodore raised his brows and asked, "Rion?"

Adeline looked puzzled by his question and tried to confirm something "Weren\'t you the one who gifted me that horse for my birthday?"

"Oh, he is…" Theodore wanted to say something but then stopped in the middle and said something else, "Yes, of course I was the one to gift that horse to you. I got him from a very special place. Why do you ask?"

Adeline pressed her lips together and then explained how Rion was behaving. "I don\'t know why but he does not even let the stableman to come near him. Not just stableman but he behaves like an untamed horse with everyone else, except me and Nigel. And he does not even eat or drink from anyone else but me. I thought that maybe he was behaving like that because he misses his old place."

Theodore gave a devilish smirk and replied, "Trust me on this, he does not miss his old place. He must be very happy that I got him out of that place. He is just behaving like that because I told him not to trust anyone except you and Nigel."

"He understands what we say?" Adeline exclaimed with her eyes wide open.

Theodore shrugged his shoulder a little and replied, "I have my ways with every animal and other being, not just humans. I can make them understand what I say."

Adeline nodded her head and thought that she finally knew why Rion was not letting anyone else touch him or even come near him.

And Theodore gave her some more information about Rion. "Also, he is one proud horse. Don\'t ever hurt his ego. You should pamper him as much as you can."

"I think I am doing that already." Adeline replied back immediately. She was a Princess after all and she had never fed someone before; she had never looked after any living being before. Now, she was feeding and cleaning Rion as if he was her baby. If that was not pampering then what was?

---

The next day, when Adeline met with General Osmond at the same time as usual for her personal training, she decided to tell him about Theodore first. She had decided to tell him everything that she knew about Lillian and wanted to ask him what she could do to punish her for her crimes.

Adeline would normally pick her sword and then enter into the fighting arena as soon as she would enter the training hall. But today, she did not pick any sword. She just stared at the General and spoke, "General Osmond, I have many things to share with you. You might be reminded of horrible things that happened to you in the past so I suggest we better sit down for this session."

Adeline was being very direct with her teacher rather than beating around the bush. She had many things to share and she wanted to share it within their daily practice hours.

General Osmond noticed the rage that was building up inside of the Princess. He could not help but think if she knew that he was the one who had kidnapped her. But she said that he might be reminded of something horrible that happened to him, so it could not be that. "What does she mean by horrible past? Does she know something about me?"

Adeline\'s eyes had a hint of anger in them. Seeing how serious Adeline looked, he instantly sat down on a chair at the side and said, "I am all ears Princess."

Adeline also sat beside the General and took a deep breath in. Then she blurted out, "I know that Lillian forced you to drop me at the Devil\'s Cave by threatening to kill your daughter. And I also know that she killed your daughter afterwards when I was found inside the Palace."

The General suddenly felt dizzy. His breathing got heavier and his eyes were filled with tears. He was reminded of how Lillian had killed his daughter. He thought that when Adeline said he would be reminded of his horrible past, she was not joking. "You knew that I was your kidnapper? Then why didn\'t you say anything to your father and got me punished?"

"Because you were also a victim of the real perpetrator. How could I just pin that crime on you when you were also victimized?"

Adeline then went on and told the General about how she had actually met the Devil that day inside the cave and how he returned her back. Then she told him how she came to know about his daughter\'s death. She also told him how Lillian was the one to kill her mother and she wanted to avenge the death of every innocent people that Lillian had caused. 

Adeline did not have to make any effort to make Osmond believe of the Devil\'s existence because he was already aware that a Devil residing inside the Cave was not just a myth. And he felt sorry for Adeline that she also had lost someone close to her because of Lillian.

"Have you told these things to the King?" Osmond asked curiously. Because if she had then he feared that things might get worse.

Adeline shook her head and said, "No, I have not. The only people that know of it are you, Nigel, and me. I know how hot-headed my father is. And if he was to know that she was responsible for the death of my mother, then I cannot even imagine what he would do in rage. I don\'t want to turn him into a killer."

But General Osmond had different thought. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists and stated in anger, "That is not what I was afraid of. I know Lillian. It wouldn\'t have been your father killing Lillian but the way around. She would have been the one to kill your father if he tried to give any punishment to her."

Adeline\'s heart sank when she heard that from Osmond. Yes, her father was a powerful ruler but so was Lillian, with her witchcraft to back her up.

Osmond kept on speaking with disgust, "Of course, she would not kill him directly but she would be the one to give out order and make the others to do her bidding; then covering it up by saying that was an attack from the enemy state."

Osmond was being brutally honest with the Princess because he wanted to make Adeline understand just how low Lillian could stoop.

"And if the King was to die when Lillian is still the first Queen of Wyverndale, the reigning power would fall on her until the future ruler was to be selected. But knowing her, she might even bend the laws to her favor and rule the Kingdom until her last breath.. So it would be better if we wait for the test and let the deity choose the future ruler first."